Murder trial in 1995 killing begins

Monday

Feb 10, 2014 at 12:01 AMFeb 10, 2014 at 11:08 PM

The murder trial of William Earl Huffstetler began Monday with Huffstetler’s friends and family in attendance. Huffstetler, 39, of Blacksburg, S.C., is charged in the 1995 killing of a Kings Mountain woman, Charleen Simons. He rejected a 20-year plea deal earlier this month.

Molly Phipps

The murder trial of William Earl Huffstetler began Monday with Huffstetler’s friends and family in attendance. Huffstetler, 39, of Blacksburg, S.C., is charged in the 1995 killing of a Kings Mountain woman, Charleen Simons. He rejected a 20-year plea deal earlier this month.

Jury selection began Monday afternoon at the Cleveland County Courthouse with Judge Timothy Kincaid, from Catawba County, presiding.

Members of the media were not allowed to remain in the courtroom for jury selection, with officials citing concerns about space for the jury pool.

Judge allows video testimony

Judge Kincaid heard arguments from the defense and the state Monday on whether to allow Cheryl Leone, a former Gaston Memorial Hospital (now known as CaroMont Regional Medical Center) pathologist, to testify in the case via a video feed. Leone performed the autopsy on Simons in 1995. Leone has Crohn’s disease, and travel is difficult for her, said Assistant District Attorney Sally Kirby-Turner.

Court officials had difficulties with the video feed during a test with Leone last week, including a frozen screen, microphone feedback and difficulty hearing her answers.

Those issues have been resolved, Kirby-Turner said.

Huffstetler’s attorney, Doug Hall, said not having Leone present to testify was a violation of his client’s rights. But on Monday, Kincaid said — based on the transcript from Thursday’s court proceedings and from Turner’s argument — Leone has a debilitating disease that can be exacerbated by stress and the state has resolved the technical issues.

“Should the witness not be able to be seen or heard by the defendant, the testimony will be stricken,” Kincaid said.

Defense questions delay

The defense presented a number of motions to Judge Kincaid on Monday, the most contested of which was a pre-indictment delay. Hall said, because of the delay in the case, his client’s rights were violated.

Simons died in 1995. Huffstetler and two co-defendants — Gator Walter Martin, of Comer Ga., and Randy Wagenknect, of Knoxville, Tenn. — were charged in connection with her death in February 2012.

Hall said several potential witnesses have died since 1995, including Gene Glover, a fourth man involved in the case, and some of Huffstetler’s family members.

Turner said those witnesses would likely have been for the state, not for the defense, and that for a pre-indictment delay motion to be approved, two requirements had to be met.

The court must have had prejudice against the defendant, and the delay must have been deliberately taken to gain a tactical advantage over the defendant.

Since Kirby-Turner and the current investigators were not involved with the case prior to then, there’s no evidence that the state delayed the case on purpose, Kirby-Turner said.

Kincaid said he found “emphatically, there’s not any bad faith” in the case and the state did not delay deliberately. He denied the motion.

Jury selection for the trial is expected to continue Tuesday. Kirby-Turner said she expected the case to take about six days, depending on inclement weather.

The co-defendants, Martin and Wagenknect, have pleaded guilty in the case but have not been sentenced, Kirby-Turner said.